Best Albums of the 1980s
Explore the best albums of the 1980s, based on over 2 million album rankings across 59,000 charts.
Last updated: 1 hour ago.
Last updated: 1 hour ago.
"A great album that shows new order really develop its sound and moving out joy division's shadow." Reply
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,296
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Comments:
"The greatest Smiths album because I don't know. I just seem to prefer this over Queen is Dead. Barbarism is especially mindblowing! The guitar on the joke isnt funny anymore fucks me out ma mind erry time aswell. All the tracks are insane!" Reply
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Medelsvensson | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,289
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Comments:
"Despite being a compilation it's as close to a proper album that you can get without it being one. All that really matter is that it's pretty much flawless from start to finish." Reply
Year of Release:
1984
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,117
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"It occurs to me we'd all benefit from some of today's more popular female vocalists having a good listen to this record." Reply
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ProfessorSquid | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,090
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"Although I do agree that there are a couple weaker tracks on this album, it's still a staple for 80's metal (not any hair metal shit either). Bruce Dickinson's first album with the band propelled them to new heights, musically and commercially while still being a really great album. 22 Acacia Ave..." [+] Reply
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AAL2014 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
6,076
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Comments:
"I can't disagree more with the review that says this seems dated based on the fact that it sounds hollow and shallow. That was the ENTIRE point. The album has a hollow, dead flat sound throughout. That was the goal. It's symbolic of the emptiness of everything. The drums provide a pattern but no ..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,671
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Comments:
"It must have taken an act of God for Columbia Records to release a cassette home demo as a studio album. In an era of overproduction, this preceded nearly all mass-marketed albums with indie, lo-fi or sparce production. Today, most Americana artists try to produce studio albums modeled after the ..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1982
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,637
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"Instrumentally probably the most complex and best Smiths record. It does lack a bit of roughness of the first two records, or the overall brilliance of TQID, mostly in the lyrics. Although still unbelievably cool, humorous and ironic, the lyrics just seem a little more straightforward than the ot..." [+] Reply
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LedZep | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (6 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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Year of Release:
1987
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,561
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"On paper it sounds like my wet dream, but I can't bring myself to really enjoy this. I find it surprisingly hollow. Melodies aren't anything amazing, and the feedback is more distracting, than actually contributing to a more interesting overall sound, which I feel is the case with most MBV's work..." [+] Reply
Year of Release:
1985
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,527
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Average Rating:
Comments:
"Can't think of too many bands whose last album was their best. But I can think of many bands where after the band broke up the lead singer became a pompous douche like Sting." Reply
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kingofwine | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
A maximum of 5 top-voted qualifying comments are selected for each album. To provide the best experience for visitors, comments are excluded if they refer to data corrections, contain excessive profanity, are written in all caps, are non-English, are too short, consist of conversations between users, or contain lists of best tracks etc.
Year of Release:
1983
Appears in:
Rank Score:
5,517
Rank in 1983:
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Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 1,000. Page 4 of 100
Best Albums of the 1980s composition
| Year | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 120 | 12% | |
| 1981 | 119 | 12% | |
| 1982 | 107 | 11% | |
| 1983 | 96 | 10% | |
| 1984 | 102 | 10% | |
| 1985 | 87 | 9% | |
| 1986 | 92 | 9% | |
| 1987 | 88 | 9% | |
| 1988 | 98 | 10% | |
| 1989 | 91 | 9% |
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| The Cure | 10 | 1% | |
| Prince | 8 | 1% | |
| Iron Maiden | 8 | 1% | |
| Elvis Costello | 8 | 1% | |
| The Smiths | 8 | 1% | |
| Rush | 8 | 1% | |
| XTC | 8 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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 |
412 | 41% | |
 |
393 | 39% | |
 |
40 | 4% | |
 |
29 | 3% | |
 |
22 | 2% | |
 |
20 | 2% | |
 |
11 | 1% | |
| Show all | |||
